Governor Eno, CSO Bicker Over Alleged N1.2bn Loan

A civil society organisation (CSO) committed to fiscal and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, Policy Alert (PA) has alleged that the administration of Governor Umo Eno has obtained a secret loan of N1.2 billion, budgeted for 90 Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and 90 pick-up trucks in the 2023 supplementary budget.

Besides, the CSO led by Mr Tejah Bolton, accused the governor of project duplication, pointing out that some inaugurated projects in the N150 billion supplementary budget were repeated.

In a statement yesterday signed by the organisation’s programme officer in charge of Fiscal Reforms and Anti-Corruption, Faith Paulinus, the CSO said the information it provided to the public was true and based on government documents.

Governor Eno, however told journalists in Uyo, the state capital, that the allegation was a ploy to distract him from his administration’s avowed commitment to delivering the dividends of democracy to the people.

He said, “The truth is that this government will not be responding to frivolous allegations. I won’t be distracted. I have a mission to serve Akwa Ibom State in line with the ‘ARISE Agenda’.  I’ll keep to that mission and let Akwa Ibom people judge at the end of the day.

“What’s wrong with funding old projects? These projects are for Akwa Ibom people. For example, we have to get airplanes for Ibom Air, these are continuous things that we should do. And even while doing all of that, we haven’t borrowed a dime.

“We will soon take delivery of ten brand new Airbus planes that we ordered. And I know we have to pay them, there is a payment plan and as it is due, we pay. We’re meeting our financial obligations,” he added.

The CSO maintained that that the 90 Jeeps and 90 pick-up trucks budgeted for the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) can also be found on page 197 of the Akwa Ibom State 2023 Supplementary Budget which is downloadable from the same website. It also claimed that it has incontrovertible proof that some of the projects as captured in the 2023 supplementary budget had either been completed, inaugurated, or fully funded by previous administrations. “We await the state government’s proofs to the contrary,” the CSO insisted.

“It is very disturbing and potentially undermines government credibility that state functionaries are denying information published in the state government’s official documents. The least we expected from the state government was an explanation as to why these projects required supplementation after they had been completed, inaugurated, or the public had been led to belief so.

“Such an explanation remains a supply-side duty that the government owes to citizens in a democratic setting, as opposed to the denial and defensive posture that we have witnessed in the last few days,” the statement reads.